An Introduction to Playing Boogie, Blues and Jazz Paperback – July 1, 1996

Boogie-Woogie is an African American style of piano-based blues that became popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The essence of boogie is an ever-recurring left hand bass pattern as a background for a strongly punctuated right hand melody.It is sometimes called "eight to the bar", as much of it is written in common time (4/4) time using eighth notes (quavers). The chord progressions are typically based on I - IV - V - I For the most part, boogie-woogie tunes are twelve-bar blues.While the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions (mostly sadness), boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing (happiness?).Boogie-Woogie made a major contribution to the development of jump blues and ultimately to rock and roll. Think Little Richard, Fats Domino (fatsonline dot nl) and Jerry Lee Lewis.This book is truly for beginners. It contains 19 easy songs. It further gives you 12 boogie woogie patterns to help you develop your left hand. It has no lyrics.The essence is to put the left hand on automatic pilot. Practice the left hand without peeking. When successful, multitask (add reading a book, or watching a movie). Eventually add the melody with the right hand (stop watching the movie or reading the book now). Improvising develops as your ears take over.I have a lot of great boogie woogie books. Just like this book, most don't come with a CD. Despite this shortcoming, I'd recommend every boogie woogie book out there. Yes, I'm biased. I love the style. You couldn't tell, could you?If you can already play some piano, and want a boogie woogie book with CD, check out: "Fast Forward- Boogie Woogie Piano". You'll soon be evolving into playing with "great balls of fire" as you develop a "left hand like God".To see boogie woogie on a DVD, check out "Blues & Barrelhouse Piano" (not for beginners!)To see how boogie woogie evolved into rock 'n' roll, check out jerryleelewis dot com. Last time I checked, Jerry (almost 80 years old) was on a world tour.Just be careful not to slam that right heel on an el cheepo Casio keyboard. It isn't designed for that. My son plays Casio certified "newer" music, so he is Casio safe. Boogie Woogie "can" be played safely on a piano. Just check it out on jerryleelewis dot com ;-)

It was ok. Not much explanation.